Participate in our Evoke Listening Sessions

The planning goal is to uncover opportunities for arts and culture to make St. Louis a more equitable, thriving and vibrant place to live.

RAC seeks to hear from as many people as possible and invites the residents of our region to join in making this bold undertaking a success.

Through EVOKE, RAC is inviting thousands of St Louisans to come together and engage in dialogue about the value of creativity, arts, and culture in our lives and their relevancy to issues that make St Louis a better place to live. EVOKE aims to reflect the deep diversity of the St. Louis region and include as many voices as possible. It is RAC’s hope that the plan will reflect the ideas and aspirations of people who believe that creativity — that impulse and ability to think, feel, express and generate something new, original and meaningful — is essential for any progressive city, like St Louis, to thrive. EVOKE is St. Louis’ first ever regional cultural planning initiative — and it’s all powered by you, our community.

As part of this cultural planning initiative, The Regional Arts Commission (RAC) is holding a series of “Listening Sessions,” in October, in locations throughout the city and county designed to enable the general community to come together, share ideas and make their voices heard as part of the cultural planning process.

The invitation is open to residents from around the region, and it’s not necessary to have an arts background to participate.

These are not your typical community meetings. Local community artists will facilitate creatively guided conversations that invite participants to explore what keeps St. Louis stuck, what makes it dynamic, and how the arts can make St. Louis a better and more equitable place. RAC anticipates that as they are in our communities in dialogue, as part of the cultural planning process, they will hear from people who want to talk about the protests. They are well positioned to listen and provide a place for people to reflect on the role of the arts in making our community a better place to live — and they are ready to broaden the conversation to include these discussions as well.